


wanna get with you and never really quit it

by gaby_z



Category: Raven Cycle - Maggie Stiefvater
Genre: Adam Parrish in a crop top, Fluff, M/M, like the most ridiculously self indulgent thing ever written, that's all folks that's really it
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-12
Updated: 2019-02-12
Packaged: 2019-10-27 01:26:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,171
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17757182
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/gaby_z/pseuds/gaby_z
Summary: Adam frowned. “Don’t. I like your principles. They’re real sexy.”Ronan visits Adam at college. Adam wears a crop top. McDonald's is derided at length.





	wanna get with you and never really quit it

**Author's Note:**

> title from all the time by kim petras. mcdonald's don't sue me

Adam had been too wired to sleep for more than a couple scattered hours, and now he was paying for it. His skin was buzzing from the coffee he’d guzzled down an hour ago. Technically, he had no commitments today that prevented him from taking a quick nap, but he wanted to be awake when Ronan got here, and the anticipation would keep him up even if he tried to rest.

He looked in the mirror for what he promised himself was the last time before padding out to the living room.

“I can’t believe you,” Sara, his roommate, announced the second she looked up from her work and saw him. They’d become close initially because something about her matter-of-fact friendliness reminded him of Blue, and he’d helplessly let his guard down in the face of it. Her tone suggested that her proclamation finished with an unspoken but proud _you shameless hussy._ “You’re gonna give that poor boy a heart attack.”

Probably, Sara was the only person who had ever looked at Adam’s relationship and said the words _that poor boy_ in reference to Ronan. He grinned at her.

“I can’t look nice for my boyfriend?”

It was an ongoing epiphany, having this joy so close all the time. Sitting in the open in these clothes and teasing about boyfriends and feeling nothing but a bubbly rising happiness, the kind that came from knowing you could relax without risking your own skin. The sofa took the toppling weight of him with a sigh. Sara wordlessly shifted so that she could reach her laptop around where he had laid his head in her lap.

“There’s looking cute and then there’s attempted murder. Stop wriggling, you’re like a three year old on Halloween.”

Adam grinned up at the ceiling. “Don’t be bitter. Amy comes back from Rome in two weeks, you can’t wither away before then. I was charged with your care and keeping.”

“My girlfriend traveling has nothing to do with my bitterness, Adam, because not everyone is as hopeless at long distance as you. In fact, my bitterness today is entirely due to the fact that academia is a scam and filled with rats.”

It was hard to muster up an appropriately sympathetic hum. Adam loved college, even the parts of it that were rat-infested scams, and he loved his roommate and their terrible fantastic mess of an apartment, and he loved Ronan, and today he got to have everything. Sara jabbed at her laptop keyboard, unimpressed with his efforts towards commiseration. “Your happiness is giving me hives,” she told him, flicking a finger at his nose. “Go away.”

Adam peeled himself off the sofa agreeably. He paused at the doorway to ask if she wanted a coffee to make amends, because he was probably going to make one himself and honestly, he was being sickening, it was the least he could do, and then the doorbell rang and his heart jolted.

Ronan was a barely contained burst of movement when Adam opened the door. His arms were solid and warm around Adam’s waist, lifting him slightly with the force of the hug. His duffel bag pressed uncomfortably into Adam’s thigh.

“Oh my god,” Adam said into his neck where his face had been crammed, and then he pressed a kiss there for the hell of it. Ronan squeezed him impossibly tighter and all he could do was laugh.

“Fuck, Parrish, parking in this asshole of a city is its own circle of hell,” Ronan told the side of his head.

“Better hope your bougie little beemer doesn’t catch anyone’s eye,” Adam returned breathlessly.

The octopus grip fell away and he settled back on his heels. Ronan was jittering with contained energy, the way he always was after the drive up. He toed off his boots and kicked them towards the coat closet. Then his hands found their way to Adam’s pockets and tugged forward gently, as if reluctant to let him get too far away. “Don’t even joke, dickwad.”

There was a shuffling at the end of the hall. “Ugh, you two. Enough with the pet names, it’s too cute to handle,” Sara said, deadpan. “Ronan, good thing you’re early. He’s been jumping around all morning, I almost kicked him out.”

“‘Sup, Sara.” Ronan unhooked one hand to extend a fist, and Sara bumped it in greeting. Adam used his newfound freedom of movement to twist into the curve of his other arm, tucking himself neatly against Ronan’s side.

“‘Sup,” she mocked. “How was the drive up?”

Gleeful shark teeth spread across Ronan’s handsome face. “Fast.”

Sara rolled her eyes. “Yeah, you’re a big bad menace to society. It’s good to see you, man. Oh, Adam, I forgot to tell you I’m meeting Evan and some people at like one for lunch if you two are up for it.”

“We’ll let you know,” Adam promised. Ronan’s hand wandered above the waistband of his sweatpants, and then abruptly stilled. “You’ve been pleasant, I appreciate it, now go finish your outline before the polite human interaction kills you.”

“Go fuck yourself,” she called back affably, but he was already pulling Ronan down the hall to his room.

“Adam,” Ronan said. There was enough space between them now that he could finally take in the view. His right hand was spread along the side of Adam’s bared waist. His palm was warm, and his touch sparked against Adam’s skin in a delicious way. Adam kicked the bedroom door closed and tumbled onto the bed.

The duffle bag was discarded, but Ronan still stood frozen by the doorframe. “Ronan,” Adam replied, just a few seconds too late, trying desperately to sound mocking and not as soft as he felt.

“I can’t believe you,” Ronan groaned, his tone strangled and nothing at all like Sara’s. His gaze was starving and devouring all at once.

Adam had aimed for cool and casual in his sprawl, but he was fighting a losing battle with the heat he could feel in his ears. “What’s not to believe? Come over here, Lynch, god.”

Ronan cursed fluently, which was exactly the response Adam had picked this outfit hoping for.

“Come here,” he repeated. Despite that flattering outburst, Ronan was still hovering by the door. “Your hands were warm.”

“Using me,” Ronan mumbled, but it couldn’t mask the intensity in his look as he settled onto the mattress and placed a hand against Adam’s stomach. His ring finger peeked just under where the hem of the crop top fell.

Adam grinned, all teeth. “How can you blame me when my boyfriend is a walking space heater?”

A smile flickered onto Ronan’s face, there and then subsumed. “Shit, you look good,” he breathed out. The heat in Adam’s ears doubled at the sound. “Stopped my fucking heart out there, you look so fucking good, Adam.”

Casual. Breezy. “I sure thought so.”

“You dick.” Ronan laughed into the curve of his neck. His body was a powerful arch above Adam’s. Adam ached. “I’m cutting up all your shirts the minute I get home. Fuck you.”

“Hm. That’s fine, all the shirts I like are up here. Come here.”

 _“Come here,”_ Ronan mocked, his lips already pressing against Adam’s jaw and working up. His skin smelled like hot sunshine through an open car window.

“I’m glad you like it,” Adam said after he’d pulled away from their kiss to catch a breath. “I think I like it too. Dressing up, I mean, looking good for you.”

Ronan’s forehead dropped down to Adam’s chest with a hissed curse. That and the five points of heat that were his fingers sliding up Adam’s ribs were their only points of contact. Adam brought up one hand to cradle the curve of Ronan’s skull, scratching gently, and was rewarded with a fierce kiss pressed to the fabric of his shirt. Finally, bunched up muscles relaxed under his black cotton tank top, and Ronan settled his weight carefully across Adam’s chest.

“You always look so beautiful,” Ronan told him seriously, looking up through his lashes. It was not the first time he had told Adam this. It was not even the fiftieth time. It still set Adam’s face aflame.

“I guess I like it for more than just your reaction, though,” Adam explained, powering through the feelings of pleased embarrassment. He had been thinking about this for a while now, and he wanted a sounding board to bounce the idea off of. He had been saving it for Ronan, because it had felt flimsy in his own head and he was worried setting it free might make it fall apart. Ronan was good at holding things gently. “It’s proof I’m safe here, you know? I’m being as loud as I can be and it’s fine.”

“Fucking right,” Ronan said. He had always interacted with sexuality a little differently to Adam, confident but more private, but there was nothing hesitant or false about his pride in Adam. He shoved his face into Adam’s neck childishly before looking back up. “It’s good you feel like that here. I worry, when you leave the Barns.”

Another layer of happiness spread itself over the already impossible towering joy in his head. This easy, open communication with Ronan was hard won. As short and simple as the sentences were, it made him insensibly happy to know that Ronan trusted him enough forgo posturing and speak plain truths.

“Nowhere could ever feel like the Barns,” Adam told him, mostly to watch the way his face lit up with sweetly surprised joy. He knew exactly how much Ronan treasured Adam’s love for his childhood home. “This is a perfect second, though.”

Ronan sat up. His right hand had found Adam’s left at some point and gotten hopelessly tangled, and with the other he braced himself so that he was leaning over Adam’s torso.

“I still want to talk more about living up here with you in the summer.”

Contentment was chocolatey warmth spread thickly over Adam’s flying heart. His thumb brushed against a scabbed-over scratch on Ronan’s knuckle, most likely either chicken or Chainsaw related. He worried at it, valiantly resisting the urge to scrape it off. He had self control, unlike some people. “Believe me, me too. Later today, yeah?”

Ronan’s smile was too lovely to look at for long. “Sure thing, lazybones.”

“Think I maybe tired myself out last night getting everything I needed to do out of the way,” Adam explained, voice just this side of pouting. His free hand reached up to tangle in the loose fabric of Ronan’s shirt. “I didn’t want to have to be working while you’re visiting.”

“I thought you were done for the semester? You better not have rushed anything for me, asshole. Remember, you dip below a 4.0, we’re through.”

Adam huffed out a laugh. “I’m getting Cheng to make you a t-shirt that says _I only fuck valedictorians._ In glitter, knowing him.”

“I’m being serious about the homework, dipshit.”

“I was just going through my assigned reading next semester, doing a rough outline of each one, that kind of prep work. I’ll look over my notes while you’re here but I wanted the grunt work out of the way.”

“You know watching you take notes turns me on,” Ronan told him by way of thanks. “Don’t laugh, I’m so serious. I think it’s like, Pavlovian reflex from Latin class. Stop giggling, Parrish, it’s not funny that you brainwashed me into getting hard every time you pick up a pen. This is a serious medical condition.”

“Your face is a serious medical condition.”

“Nothing is less hot than when you try flirting like a demented third grader.”

“Sorry, you’re right, let me go grab a pen so I can seduce you through my note-taking skills like a normal person.”

“I don’t think I can handle any more seducing,” Ronan told him, suddenly serious. He dipped his head and traced the tip of his nose along the hemline of the shirt, and Adam gasped before he could stop himself. “Your getup almost killed me. We just got my brain leakage problem under control, man, we can’t risk a relapse.”

“Not funny,” Adam replied. He punctuated the statement with a soft jab to the ribs. The unmaking was no longer a threat, but that didn’t mean his heart didn’t race at the memory or the suggestion of its return.

He wondered if his sixteen year old self could have conceived of the dopey smile that currently graced Ronan Lynch’s lips. “It’s no joke, Adam Parrish. You’re so hot you fry my brains.”

"So I turn you into a brain-dead horndog with a notebook kink. Flattering.”

“Love brings out the best in us,” Ronan quipped as he hopped onto the sliver of unoccupied bed and settled back against the pillows. His arm lay across Adam’s bare stomach. “Hopefully, _my_ loving presence will bring you back to sanity and you’ll finally realize that no human being needs this many tiny fucking throw pillows on their bed. I feel like I’m being eaten by an eldritch mattress. Where do you even sleep?”

“I’m pre-law track, Lynch. They don’t program us to sleep.”

“Boo, you stole my joke. Also, definitely fuck that noise. We’re not leaving this bed until past noon tomorrow.”

“Hm. We can get breakfast delivered literally straight to the bed if I bribe Sara with hash browns to answer the door for us.”

“Adam fucking Parrish, if you are in bed with me talking about ordering goddamned McDonald’s, I am not worried about my chances of getting away with murder. Opal would help me hide the body.”

Ronan had strong feelings about McDonald’s. His use of _goddamned_ was not so much blasphemy as a statement of opinion. Adam twisted under Ronan’s arm so they were facing each other. “She definitely would not. She calls me like every day, I’m her favorite. And don’t be such a snob, it’s convenient.”

Ronan sniffed. “Easy to be the favorite when you’re not the one who has to stop her from chugging gallons of paint to see if the colors taste different.”

Adam had received approximately a thousand snapchats of that day last week. Opal had figured out how to open the app on Ronan’s phone, and she sent Adam blurry pictures and shaky videos with almost obsessive regularity. His personal favorite of the batch was a slow motion video of a bewhiskered Ronan wearing a crown of cartoon hearts while tugging a bright barn-red shade out of Opal’s reach. It had ended with him accidentally splashing paint all down his front. “You could’ve let her. It’s not like she would’ve gotten sick.”

“Like I give a fuck? I needed that paint, I’m not dragging my ass to Home Depot twice in one week.”

Adam rolled his eyes. “The point is you’re a food snob.”

“How can you live with cows and still eat that shit knowing how they treat livestock?”

If it came off the dollar menu, very easily, but he wouldn’t tell Ronan that. It was immeasurably charming to Adam that his goth looking drag racing wonder of a boyfriend got fired up about ethical consumerism and animal welfare. He usually didn’t mind Ronan’s standards, because if pressed to form an opinion he found he agreed with them, but life at college didn’t really supply the same affordable opportunities to eat ethical and local the way living on Virginia farmland did.

“Fine, I promise no McDonald’s,” Adam sighed. “I’m sticking you in the kitchen anyways. I told Sara all about your french toast. She’s got expectations. High ones.”

“God, the grind never stops,” Ronan whined into his shoulder.

“Nope. You work for room and board under this roof.”

Ronan tried for a doe-eyed pout. His cheekbones turned it into surly petulance, but Adam still had to catch his breath when he fluttered his lashes. It was clearly intended to be ridiculous. Adam hoped desperately that it wasn’t obvious how sexy he found it. “I miss the golden days of my youth when just my sugar was payment enough.”

Adam gagged. “Never say that again, please?”

“You’re right, I’m no sugar baby. I’m trophy husband material. I should respect myself, reach for the stars.”

“God. Remind me why I wanted you here?”

Ronan waggled his eyebrows. “For sugar, baby. Hey! Dude, don’t even try it, I can flip your scrawny ass one-handed, you know this.”

Adam enjoyed his triumphant perch on Ronan’s chest, but it proved short lived. He found himself face down on the mattress a moment later, Ronan pinning him with an arrogantly lazy elbow dug into the center of his back. He could imagine perfectly the unconcerned smirk gracing Ronan’s face. He squirmed and struggled for a moment, then let his body fall slack all at once. Ronan fell for it, like a sucker, and Adam flipped them.

“Shaking your ass in my face is poor sportsmanship, Parrish,” Ronan complained over the sound of Adam’s laughter. He sounded out of breath, and both his hands and his heavy stare were framing Adam’s bared waist. His thumbs pushed the top even further up Adam’s ribs.

“Only if I don’t follow through,” Adam pointed out, falling forward onto his elbows so that they were almost nose to nose.

“Then I guess what happens next depends on what kind of man you are, Parrish.”

“Oh, I value sportsmanship very highly,” Adam whispered. He was cringing before he’d even finished, but Ronan kissing him through laughter made the embarrassment worth it.

“Explain how it’s possible that I’m so in love with your dork ass,” Ronan muttered, pulling him firmly down so that they were a mirror of their earlier position, Ronan holding Adam as he lay with his head against Ronan’s chest. Somehow, all but two pillows had been swept off the bed in the scuffle. Adam suspected this to be the result of a deliberate campaign. “Later, though. Nap now, sourced PowerPoint on the forgiving nature of love after lunch.”

A minute ago he’d been ready to wrestle Ronan into the ground, but at the suggestion of a nap, tiredness hit him like a brick to the head. “Love you too. Let me set an alarm,” Adam said, making absolutely no effort to sit up and reach for his phone. Ronan’s fingers were twining through his hair, and he could feel his spine melting like a cat being scratched.

“Sara will knock to wake us for lunch. Or maybe we won’t go. Maybe I’ll sacrifice my principles to your laziness and order McDemon’s so we can stay in bed forever.”

Adam frowned. “Don’t. I like your principles. They’re real sexy.”

His pillow shook with laughter. The snowy white comforter, absconded months ago from the Barns, was somehow now draped over both of them. That overwhelming contentment was back, like slipping into a warm bath. “Love when you objectify me, Parrish. Go the fuck to sleep.”

Adam went the fuck to sleep.

 


End file.
